July 12, 2010--Another update from Mexico

Hi Everybody, As I’m writing this it’s raining. It’s actually been cold all week, and there have been a couple of times I’ve had the windows closed. It’s cold now, but I have the door open--windows are closed, and the A/C vent only is on, so cool air is coming in from outside, so I can’t really complain about the cold, can I?

Last week I took a big meal to my landlady, a big pot of fifteen bean mix with ham vegetable soup, corn cakes, fried potatoes and cole slaw. I took a gallon of Arizona tea, and apricot pecan tassies (they’re sort of like little tarts), a big tray of banana/walnut muffins and half a watermelon. I asked her to invite her parents to come down for the meal. They live about four or five miles away. I’ve met her mother, and because I’m always taking food to her daughter and family, she made the nicest tortilla warmer for me. She had her daughter bring it to me a couple of weeks ago, so I thought it would be a treat to invite her mom and dad for a meal that I prepared. I can’t have them back here in the RV--there’s six of them, plus her mom and dad. So, I loaded up the car and took all the food to her, at her house in the front of the RV park. The tortilla warmer is a terry-lined, double circle the size of about an eight inch tortilla, with a slit along half of the circle. She embroidered the top with a little bunny rabbit, a jalapeno pepper, and the words “Mennonite Park, Mexico. That’s the official name of this RV park I’m in, so it’s a practical gift that I’ll use a lot, and also a souvenir. My landlady, Christine Loewen (I call her Christy) has seven brothers, and she’s the only girl. I’ve met one of her brothers. He’s the one who fixed the air conditioner in my car, and he’s looking for a strut to hold up the hood (I’ve been having to prop it up, since the strut is broken), a radio antenna, and a plastic finiish plate that fits over the top part of my dash, under the windshield. I have it covered with a dash cover now, but before I got the cover it had become dried out and brittle from the Arizona sun. The first time I came here to Mexico, in February of 2009, I hit a bump going about 35 or 40 miles an hour and the impact popped and cracked the whole front of the dash. It flew up all over the front of the car in little and some big pieces. Anyway, he’s watching for parts in junkyards, as he looks for things he needs for cars he’s fixing. He says he has a list of things he just keeps looking for, until he finds them and that eventually he almost always finds what he’s looking for . He’s so reasonable--he only charged me $200 U.S., for fixing my air conditioner, which covered the compressor, plus labor. He also fixed a couple of other things at the same time.

My landlord and his boys mowed the whole park today, and it looks so nice. And they’re always bringing me things. Last night about eight o’clock, just when it was starting to get dark, my landlord and three of his kids showed up outside, and called to me. They’d walked back from their house. They had two sandwiches and a big jar of vegetable soup, and it was so good. I ate the sandwiches and half the soup, so I still have another serving of soup left. She makes fresh bread, small round whole wheat rolls, about every two weeks, and several times she’s sent the kids back with seven or eight of them for me. They’re so good split and toasted, with butter.

I really feel at home here now. I still don’t have television, but I read a lot, so I don’t miss it, and the dogs keep me company. I want to sell my property in Arizona when real estate starts moving again, and build a place down here. I told my landlord I want to do that and asked him about buying land around here. He said he knows an honest, reliable realtor who would help me do it, and I’d be sure to have an attorney and a title company involved.
I have a guy in Arizona who does all my maintenance in Tombstone, who is single and just does construction work or handyman jobs, as he can find it. He stays busy all the time. He speaks fluent Spanish, and can do anything on a building, even wiring, plumbing, dry walling, roofing, etc. He just doesn’t have a contractor’s license, so he works on construction crews and picks up odd jobs. I’m going to see if he would come down here for two or three months--whatever it took, and run a construction crew for me. He could negotiate for materials, hire subcontractors, and supervise all the work. I can let him hire day laborers, or a permanent crew, which would be preferable for the time they worked on my property. He’s pleasant and I know he’d never cheat me. In fact, I’d pay him according to how much money he could save me. When he works for me in Tombstone, he just lets me pay him what I want. I always try to be fair and he’s always been happy with what I pay, so we have a good working arrangement.

I’ll also see an immigration lawyer first, before I build, and see if there are any advantages gained by applying for permanent residency. A lot of American’s and Canadians own homes, and businesses, in Mexico, and have for years, so I know it’s just a matter of making sure I do everything legally. I haven’t mentioned it to my landlord yet, but I might even talk with him about building right here in his RV park, at the back of the park, where my RV is parked now. I’d like to stay right here, because his family lives in the park, and they lock it every night at sundown, then open it about seven every morning, so it would be very safe, especially when I was visiting in the states. If I ever come in after the park is locked, all I do is honk and they open the gate with a remote, right from their house. I don’t know if they’d be willing to let me build on the property, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. They’ probably be able to get another remote for the gate, and just let me keep it. I’d like to build back here, right by this little lake. It’s so private here, with a beautiful view of the mountains, and it’s out away from town. Also, it’s on a main highway. I could save a lot of money by doing that, because I wouldn’t have to develop a lot. I’d be able to tie into his big septic system. I wouldn’t have to have any driveways or roads into the property, I wouldn’t need to fence it, except maybe just a fenced area for the dogs, and I’d have access to water, electricity, etc. All I’d need is separate meters. I don’t know if he’d be receptive to the idea or not, but they really do like me and I love his family. The most RV’s he’s ever had in here was last January, just before I left to go back to Arizona, when he had 21. It was a caravan and they were just here two nights. There have been a couple of times when he had one or two RVs just overnight, and a couple of times when two would come in together, but that’s it. He said he used to, up until three or four years ago, have twenty or thirty caravans in here every year, with as many as thirty RVs, but with the cost of gasoline and drug wars in some of the bigger border towns, people just aren’t coming to Mexico on vacations from the states, the way they used to. There are actually more people moving down here right now, than ever before though, because there are no restrictions against foreigners owning property and many people come down to spend part of each year. But there are more and more people retiring here, because everything is so affordable.

When I build my house, I’m planning to build a nice one-bedroom apartment at one end of it, so I can rent that out to cover the cost of my own utilities and maintenance, so I’ll be living here for nothing, once I buy the lot and build the house. I’d pay cash for all that, of course. I don’t ever intend to go in debt again. And, if I have enough money left over, I’d like to open a detail shop, and car wash right here on the road where I live now. There are more people with nice cars and big trucks down here than I’ve seen in Arizona and I know I could earn a good income from it. I could probably get my landlord’s son to run it for me. He’s eighteen now, and a really good worker.

I’d keep my RV, of course, and use it or the car to travel back and forth to the U.S. anytime I wanted to, or anywhere else I decided to travel. I’d like to see some more of Mexico, and maybe even drive down into Central America, if I could find someone to go with me. It has a good engine in it now, with only about 60,000 miles on it. When my two big dogs pass on, I’ll be able to travel and take the small ones with me. Also, two of my small dogs won’t live much longer either. I have one small dog, the little black one, that I found in an RV park in Belen, New Mexico in May of 1997 and he was at least two to four years old then, so he’s got to be close to fifteen, and I have another small dog, Scout, the one that ran off down here last year, that was born on my birthday in 1999, so he’s over eleven years old, and I’ve never had a dog that lived past fourteen years old, except for the little black one I have now. I’ve had my two big dogs since spring of 2000, so they’re both over eleven or twelve years old. I would never have been without them for anything, but they have made it hard to do any traveling. When all I have is the little multi-colored dog, Dozer, that Mike, my nephew gave me in 1995, I can easily travel. He’s house broken and well behaved, born in May of 1995.

It’s still raining and eight-thirty on a Saturday night. I just closed up the RV. It was getting too cold. We haven’t had much rain so far this rainy season, which started about the middle of June. It was hot the first month I got here this year. Actually, my landlord says the only time of year it is ever hot is for a month or so, usually from the first of May until the rainy season starts, so only about a month and a half. The rest of the time, the climate is nearer to being perfect than anyplace I’ve ever lived. I used to have problems with my skin cracking and fingernails breaking, in Arizona, but I’ve never experienced that here, so that’s another big plus.

I like the people here too, and more and more people are learning English all the time, I’ve heard. I really haven’t spoken Spanish to anyone since I came back this time. Last year, I did speak Spanish occasionally, when I was learning my way around and trying to find things in stores and get oriented as to utilities, and so forth, but now that’s all taken care of, and I can find my way around for any type of services I need, I rarely need to seek help. About the only Spanish I ever use anymore, is to say gracias, which is thank you, or por favor, which is please.

I really haven’t found a single downside to living here in Mexico, except that I do sometimes long for a friend just go places with and to talk to. It’s a good thing I love to read, or I guess I’d be likely to get bored here. I haven’t even driven up to Canyon Country yet, and I’d still like to take that train trip from Chihuahua to the coast, but hate to go by myself. I hate to say it, but I’m just an old homebody. But, it’s so nice not to ever have to worry about money, and about prices continually rising. I’ll still be able to go back to the states for medicare treatment. About the only thing of value I’d lose by moving here would be the supplemental insurance coverage that is now being paid for by the State of Arizona. I’d lose that, of course, but could gain enough in savings to pay for supplemental insurance myself. Also, I’m hoping I can get enough for my property in Arizona, that I can start a business here. I might just start with a good detailing shop, and later add a car wash. It all depends on what I can get for my property there in the U.S., and what it will cost down here to build. I’d do everything as economically down here, as possible. Fortunately, with my background in architecture, I know lots of ways to save money on a house. I’d probably just build with stucco over block or adobe bricks. And, I will trim back a bit on the sq. ft. portion of the house I’ve designed, that I’d be using for myself, and put more into the apartment portion. I want to have a spa, for sure, and I’d like to have a small swimming pool, just about a twelve by fifteen or twenty foot pool. But that’s not a must, and it would come later. I’d just start out with what I absolutely needed, and bring my frig and stove from the states, plus a few other things. Mostly, I’d get furniture down here. I don’t think I’d even want the house carpeted, except in the living room and bedroom…the rest would be terrazzo, which is cheap down here. I could afford a housekeeper here, and even a cook if I wanted one. And, I wouldn’t have any yard maintenance if I can build here in the park. They keep it nice and mow it regularly in the summer. I want to have a nice screened in patio where I can sit outside a lot, and not be bothered by flies. It’s just unfortunate they’re so bad, here close to the water, and the dogs draw them too. But, I like being by this little lake. I really do love this area of Mexico, and I’ve been a lot of different places in Mexico. I definitely don’t want to live in the tropic part of the country, because of the humidity. It is lush and beautiful, but I can’t stand the heat and humidity. The altitude is what makes it so nice here, and the fact that within five to six hours, I can be in the U.S. And, Agua Prieta is a safe, fast border crossing. So, is Presidio, Texas, and I wouldn’t be afraid to cross at Juarez. That’s where my landlord crosses and he never has any trouble. He says the border wars are so over-rated--that they never affect tourists, but all the stuff in the press has people in the U.S. afraid to cross. It’s crazy how people will believe anything they read in the press, but question so much they read in the Bible! Funny, when you think about it. With that, I’m going to close, before I jump to the next page. Please write and stay in touch. Just about the most exciting thing I do is to open my emails! Ha Ha.